9 posts tagged “free press”

No, not O as in Oprah.  Bleh.

Oneita Jackson, Detroit Free Press

It was the built-in bookcases that sold me on my apartment.

“I’ll take it,” I said to the property manager. I didn’t ask how much it was, didn’t care.

I pictured my hardcovers and paperbacks, dictionaries and classics, autobiographies, English and philosophy books lining their shelves, four each, on either side of the window. Another shelf connects one case to the other, at the top: more room for more books.

But it’s never enough.

Oneita the Bibliophile has books everywhere. In four areas in my bedroom; decorating the floors in my library, and in my office. Oh, and in my son’s room. Did I say I have them in the kitchen, too? Under the bench in the library?

Most of them I’ve read and forgotten. Many of them I haven’t read at all. It’s a challenge, especially considering I’m a copy editor who reads all day. I don’t even try to get to them all, erudite as I’d like to be.

“The Little Guide to your Well-Read Life” by Steve Leveen? It’s supposed to help wannabe readers get more out of books and offers tips on how to read.

Never opened it.

“How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read” by Pierre Bayard? Love it. Bayard, a literature professor and psychoanalyst, extols the virtues of nonreading and makes a compelling and eloquent argument regarding its value. He addresses the stigma — and guilt — attached to nonreading. “Our propensity to lie when we talk about books is a logical consequence of the stigma attached to nonreading.” (When the book came out, a delightful Wall Street Journal review noted the irony of reading Bayard’s book.)

I pulled it out the other day after I read a New York Times article about, get this: books.

In “Volumes to Go Before You Die” the reporter writes: “‘1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die’ … sounds like a challenge with a subtle insult embedded in the premise. It suggests that you, the supposedly educated reader, might have read half the list at best. ... It plays on every serious reader's sense of inadequacy.” Ah, the guilt factor.

Also, “it dares you to find out whether your reading powers rate as He-Man or Limp Wrist.” Ah, the snob factor.

Whatever.

Of all the titles the Times reporter listed, I could only remember reading books by Dickens and Dostoyevsky. If I die tomorrow — there’s been a lot of that going on in my circle lately — I’m fine with what I haven’t read. I love my books, but I don’t feel guilty anymore.

The Times reporter says he’s never read "Moby-Dick."

Neither have I.

(But I can talk about it.)

Here's the entire 1001 list.

Ehh, I can cross 16 off that list.  Don't think the list itself is all that great.

Schoolcraft/Middlebelt

I-96/Middlebelt

A broken water main on the service drive turns the embankment of eastbound I-96 into a waterfall and spectator attraction Thursday afternoon in Livonia. Workers stopped the flow after more than an hour, but the freeway flood below frightened a handful of stranded motorists.

Sure made the drive home a royal pain in the ass!

Young people feel thwarted in their ability to explore other cultures and break down barriers

July 8, 2007 BY ROCHELLE RILEY, FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

They are 17, and they want their world to be a better place. They want to ask questions, debate the answers, dig into their differences and discover the things they share. They don't want to be afraid of each other. They want to knock down the walls, shred the stereotypes. They are eager to grow.

But in their high schools, they have felt shackled by fear, political correctness and a curriculum that teaches you how to pass tests but not how to think and explore and understand.

This is what fairly gushed out from five bright, young people in a recent conversation at the Free Press, and it does not bode well for the future of southeast Michigan, one of the nation's most racially polarized regions. If educators don't feel they can attack issues of race and cultural differences in a classroom setting, where is this kind of critical learning going to happen?

This is an area where about 40% of high school students are minorities, where tens of thousands of Arab Americans are not counted as such by the U.S. Census, where some school counselors regard Asian Indian students as white, and where diverse histories and cultures are barely explored at the classroom level.

There are few lessons about the lasting impact of slavery, the combative history of the Middle East, or the enormous impact of Latino culture on the United States. Most high school students don't read "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" unless they discover it on their own.

Maybe this isn't the case in every school district. It certainly shouldn't be. But the panel of 17-year-olds from Detroit and its suburbs who met with me all said it was true -- and frustrating -- for them.

As the NAACP opens its 98th national convention in Detroit this week, with a focus on recruiting young members and re-examining its mission, it's worth hearing young people talk about what they want and expect to learn in school. These students -- intuitive, astute, thoughtful and passionate -- made clear what some adults forget: Life should be part of education, or else how do we learn to live it together?

iPhone activation problems reported

July 1, 2007

By MIKE WENDLAND
freep.com

The Internet is rippling with reports from some iPhone buyers that they are having massive headaches activating the devices on AT&T's network.

Spokespeople for AT&T and Apple insist there are no significant activation issues but tell that to the dozens who are posting that - 24 hours after they bought the phones - they still can't get them working.

Free Press reader Liz Smith Yeats has been sharing her frustrations with me via e-mail. She's called Apple and AT&T repeatedly with no success.

"This is a train-wreck waiting to happen if all these phones are out there and AT&T can't get it together and activate them," she says.

Late Saturday - still without a working iPhone - she notes:

"My husband has been reviewing the Apple Discussion boards in the hopes of getting me in off the ledge. Apparently I am not alone. It is sounding like anyone who had a non-standard or non-current rate plan with AT&T has dropped through the cracks. (We had a minor discount via husband's work) These less-used rate codes weren't mapped properly to the new plans, and so they need manual intervention."

One of the Apple discussion boards is filling up with grumbles. Some were starting to report success in getting activation late Saturday, after long delays. You can follow the thread by clicking HERE.

Apple and AT&T haven't disclosed how many iPhones have been sold so far but whatever the number, it seems like the task of pairing them to the network has overwhelmed the AT&T network in some places.

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Congratulations!  You now own a $500-$600 paperweight!!

Leaving so soon?

Took the test.  Won't know how bad I did till I have a meeting with Stewie on the 5th.  Probably shouldn't call him that, eh?  Expecting him to tell me to go back to 3rd grade.  Oy, what am I getting myself into?

Hero for the day:  Allen...saved my ass for sure!  FOIL - gotta remember that one.  I'll keep my word and won't call him the human calculator anymore.  Not that I don't already have plenty to pick on him about.  Ha!  Nah, I'll be nice.

Enough with the slacking already.  Time to go back to work.  Oh joy!

God damn Comerica.

Should be no bitchin here. SIMPLE SOLUTION=DON'T BANK WITH COMERICA ANYMORE. Screw them and their banks.

Are people Morons or what???? How difficult is it to move all you accounts and money somewhere else??? If you don't like their policies, friggin show them by taking all of your money and accounts out of their banks.

Why would anyone do business with these clowns at Comerica? If you do, you need your head examined.

WTF!  Wow.  Folks are still pissed off about the whole Dallas thing it seems.  Ummm...I love my job!  hehe

Just one of the many ways military brats get screwed.  As if military life isn't hard enough already.
I love U of M football.  I grew up on it.  But I'll be damned if I even consider going to school there.  No way, no how.

Got the shakes. Gotta eat. Peace

Granholm has gone too damn far this time.  How much more has to be taken away from the schools?  As Detroit Public wasn't suffering enough so bad that they had to give shit away just to get the kids to show up on count day.
Detroit has the highest foreclosure rate in the country and Michigan with the second highest unemployment rate, can it possibly get any worse?  Umm, yeah.  Companies are fleeing Michigan left and right, layoffs are becoming routine, Michiganders aren't spending money because they have no money.  And the thinking in Lansing is to make the kids suffer the same way their parents are? 

STATE BUDGET FIGHT

April 27, 2007

BY CHRIS CHRISTOFF and PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS

LANSING -- An irate Gov. Jennifer Granholm put the heat on Republican lawmakers Thursday, announcing she would cut money to public schools by $125 per pupil unless the GOP agrees to a tax increase to make up for falling tax revenues.

School officials said the cut would force them to tap emergency reserves or borrow money to balance their budgets -- difficult options with just six weeks left in most districts' school year. If money isn't restored in the new budget year, they said, layoffs and program cuts loom.

"I'm assuming most districts are going to be able to at least keep open their classrooms," said Mike Flanagan, state superintendent of public instruction. But he said some may cut transportation or lay off administrators for the rest of the school year.

Granholm said Michigan's continued weak economy, which translated to lower-than-expected tax revenues, forced her decision. New data, she said, show that the state fell $136 million short of March sales tax projections. She plans to officially notify school districts Monday of the aid cut. The Legislature will have one month to find cash to avoid the reduction.

Granholm's announcement fueled partisan discord over a state budget crisis whose solution has eluded Granholm and lawmakers since she announced in January that reduced tax collections had put the state $900 million in the hole.

Republicans accused Granholm of using alarmist tactics to force a tax increase and insisted the immediate budget problems could be solved through spending cuts.

Granholm also said she would notify physicians and hospitals of reduced state payments for treating Medicaid patients because of a general fund deficit she said has grown to $500 million.

Granholm implored several hundred school officials at a Lansing conference to urge their state senators to raise taxes and avert the cutbacks. She said she has cut state spending so much that further cuts will harm education, public safety and health care.

Senate Republicans have opposed tax hikes for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, although they hinted they would consider new or higher taxes for 2007-08 along with more cost-cutting. Many House Democrats also have shunned a tax increase unless significant numbers of Republicans agree to one.

Granholm, visibly angry, told reporters that Republicans are stonewalling budget negotiations with extremist views against taxes.

"We need revenues to be able to save our schools," she said. "I'm angry at Senate Republicans for having purely an extremist ideology of never, no way ever, regardless of how it impacts Michigan, will they ever consider revenues. That philosophy is damaging to Michigan."

Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, dismissed Granholm's label as unproductive name-calling. Bishop, in a statement, said the House and Senate have cooperated to erase part of the budget deficit.

"The governor seems intent on derailing the bipartisan progress via her obsession with a massive tax increase on Michigan families," Bishop said. "Republicans and Democrats have both demonstrated in legislation that the current-year deficit can be balanced with cuts."

Warren Consolidated Schools Superintendent James Clor said a $125-per-pupil cut would cost his district of more than 15,000 students about $1.9 million. He said the district's $13-million reserve would last three months.

"This is a shock, that it has to happen instantly," Clor said. "I hope it's a move that Granholm has to do to have these senators and legislators wake up."

He added, "What happens to districts that have no savings? Do they just close on that date? What do you do if you have no money?"

Avondale Schools Superintendent George Heitsch said a $125-per-pupil cut would cost his Auburn Hills district more than $400,000, which he said would be lumped onto next year's deficit.

Asked whether it would force an early end to the school year, he said, "We would not want that to happen."

This week, the Senate sent to Granholm a House bill that lops $300 million from the School Aid Fund deficit, mostly through accounting maneuvers. The bill still left a $62-million school budget hole. Granholm said she plans to sign it.

Combined with the March revenue shortfall, the School Aid Fund will remain $198 million in the hole when state economists meet in May to officially announce new revenue projections.

Earlier this month, Granholm and the Legislature cut $344 million from the current year's budget.

Sen. Nancy Cassis, R-Novi, chairwoman of the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees tax issues, said Granholm hasn't done enough to trim such growing costs as health insurance and pensions for Michigan school employees. She said the governor's criticism of Republicans makes it more difficult to reach a budget compromise.

Cassis said a tax increase might be considered as a last resort for the 2007-08 fiscal year, adding that school funding may have to be scaled back, though not as much as Granholm's $125-per-pupil cut.

 

Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"In the morning, I ask God to meet me at the office door, and sit with me all day and if needed put his arm around my shoulder and his hand across by mouth"

BY KATHLEEN GRAY

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

The U.S. government should invest billions to help Michigan become the hub for transforming the nation's energy economy, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said Saturday.

Speaking to more than 1,800 Democrats at the annual Jefferson Jackson dinner at Cobo Center in Detroit, Edwards said he'd like to see Michigan evolve.

"We should put billions of dollars into creation of the new technology and $1 billion should go right to the car companies," he said. "I don't want to see the cars of the future built anywhere else."

With the first primary elections nine months away, Edwards consistently trails U.S. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama in public opinion polls about the Democratic contenders for the White House. But he struck a popular theme with the labor-heavy audience.

He said he opposes the trade deal being negotiated between the Bush administration and South Korea. It has faced strong opposition from organized labor.

"I believe in trade deals that make sense for American workers," Edwards said.

Edwards also said he made a mistake in voting for the Iraq war when he was a U.S. senator from North Carolina and that it's time to bring troops home. He said one of his first acts as president would be to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm warned that Edwards wouldn't receive the state's Democratic support if he doesn't support fair trade and programs that will invest in workers who have lost manufacturing jobs.

"We're not going to stop working until we get George Bush out of office and replaced with a Democrat who cares about Michigan," she said.

Republicans chided Edwards for spending $800 from campaign funds for two haircuts. He reimbursed his campaign.

"The amount of money that Edwards spends on a haircut is more than an unemployed Michigan citizen can receive for an entire week," said Saul Anuzis, Michigan GOP chairman.

Can we PLEASE lay off the haircut thing already?  Geez.